Nonrev Perceptions and CRJ900s in Charlotte

[Furloughedagain]

Hello folks.

Flew through CLT for the first time in over a year this weekend. Wanted to give you some quick perceptions.

#1. Express Gate-Agents in concourse "E" did a FANTASTIC job. Exceptional customer service. They really went out of their way to help, and made me (as a nonrev) feel like a customer rather than a burden. This was the first time i've traveled as a nonrev since 2002 and I was pleasantly surprised at how painless it was.

#2. Express gate RAMP agents are awful. Nice to see that some things never change. While waiting to be parked I could see the ramp agents (who were sitting on a cart a few gates away) stroll slowly over to the cart, pick up the wands, stroll slowly back and then finally get around to marsheling the airplane into the gate. No enthusiasm, no urgency, bad form.

#3. Mesa. Overall, a good experience on Mesa (though it pains me to admit it). The ONLY thing I found to be very unprofessional on Mesa is that the Flight Attendants introduce the crew by using their FIRST names. On one particular flight this weekend she said, "Captain Stephane is in command, assisted by First Officer Justin, and my name is Brigette". To me it sounds unprofessional. Use last-names at LEAST for the flight-deck crew. If the F/A wants to use her first name for safety, I can understand that.

#4. PSA. Crew appeared very unprofessional. While waiting in the terminal the outbound crew walked to the gate. Neither pilot was wearing his hat. The F/O had his tie loosened and the top button unbuttoned. F/A was chewing gum with her mouth open while boarding. The F/A was enforcing the carry-on rule to the point of being aggressively rude to the revenue passengers.

#5. CRJ-900s. I did not fly on one of these airplanes, but I couldn't help but notice that there were 6-8 CRJ-900s at the mainline gates in America West colors.

What do you folks think about this CRJ-900? They are obviously (and quite blatantly) replacing the DC9, F100, F28...maybe even the 737? I have to admit -- as a furloughee -- I was dismayed to see so many of these aircraft. They are quite obviously a replacement for the narrow-body equipment that many of us were flying while still employed by US Airways.

Overall impressions: 4 legs / 4 RJs. The service was adequate, employees friendly, flights on-time. Was nice to see some excitement over the merger and the new combined product. I love the "Pardon Our Dust While We Build A New Airline" posters and advertisements.

Best regards and happy holidays to all.

 

[night_ice]

PLEASE do not quote and entire post, especially long ones, to add a couple of lines. If you are responding to the post directly above yours, you dont need to quote anything.
Thanks. - Moderator

Has anyone had any god experiences in terminal "F" in PHL??
CLT is always very helpful and appears to be a lot of enthusiasm there..at least from what I have observed.

 

[Barbell]

#5. CRJ-900s. I did not fly on one of these airplanes, but I couldn't help but notice that there were 6-8 CRJ-900s at the mainline gates in America West colors.

The CR9 is perhaps the most uncomfortable plane in our fleet, if not the sky. You see the HP flag in CLT because of YV's scheduling, which is being discussed here.

And agreed: those folks in CLT E are extremely professional and friendly. My first nonrev on US as HP post-merger went a lot more smoothly because of them. Thanks all!

 

[legacy-to-LCC]

the 'f' (appropriately distinguished) is a raw embarrassment for u--i have surreptitiously removed my crew tags on more than one occasion while waiting in 'f'...nevertheless, the express terminal at clt is a very refreshing environment, and not just for smokers. despite my yankee heritage (which i embrace quite readily)there is a palpable "southern" comfort which i look forward to when in clt. so, and while this has nada to do with crj900s, i salute my fine colleagues in clt who make the difference...and, for the transient, semi-communicable, woefully inefficient employees in phl 'f', well, perhaps you should non-rev to clt for a day?!?!?

 

[ILMgwm]

The CRJ-900 is a nightmare for ramp employees. I posted some complaints on another thread. I think the plane looks sleak and has the appearance of a mainline aircraft. It has tremendous maintenance delays and, somewhat, clueless MESA dispatchers. Most of the crews are from PHX, with a temp. base in IAH. Daily there is a problem with crews being deadheaded and whatnot. Flights are delayed to missing crew members. On the plus side, i think the Mesa crews are the easiest and most flexible of all carriers to deal with. They know what a quick turn is!

I hope MESA plans on basing some CRJ-900 crews in CLT. It would make a difference.

PSA is my least favorite carrier. I don't even want to begin talking about them. But, when i non-rev, i won't fly on a PSA flight due to their ENORMOUS MAINTENANCE delays and cancellations.

 

[barbeetantrums]

Has anyone had any god experiences in terminal "F" in PHL??

God spoke to me through a broken urinal at Terminal F. He told me to pee into another urinal. -_-

 

[night_ice]

God spoke to me through a broken urinal at Terminal F. He told me to pee into another urinal. -_-

oops, not "God" experiences, but "good" experiences.

I was in terminal "F" yesterday, that's the reason I asked. I rarely go through that terminal (thank goodness). Employees were rude and not helpful, and I didn't even identify myself as a non-rev! I would have hated to be a paying pax.

Oh, one more observation: since when do rampers wear earphones while working the ramp? This seems like a major safety concern.

 

[Boeing Boeing GONE]

CLT is usually a great place to non-rev thru, the staff there are great and there is a good atmosphere there, much better than "the running with the bulls" in PHL. Although going to MCO last week from CLT , I went to the csa around 35 mins before dep to ask for a seat assignment (checked loads earlier that day 90+ avail seats), she turned me away and said i was on the standby list.. How moronic i work gates myself and if there is that many seats avail you just assign a seat..

To my horror there she was again the following week when i travelled
CLT- LGW 140! yes 140 y seats avail, i went up to the counter to ask a diff agent for a seat but she dissapeared and this vision of incompetance strolled towards me and when i sheepishly asked for the seat assignment she told me i was on the PRIORITY list ( No #### Sherlock), met another agent and of course no problem...

I hate when staff are rude to staff!! We are like a family( more the simpsons than the brady bunch)

 

[night_ice]

CLT is usually a great place to non-rev thru, the staff there are great and there is a good atmosphere there, much better than "the running with the bulls" in PHL. Although going to MCO last week from CLT , I went to the csa around 35 mins before dep to ask for a seat assignment (checked loads earlier that day 90+ avail seats), she turned me away and said i was on the standby list.. How moronic i work gates myself and if there is that many seats avail you just assign a seat..

To my horror there she was again the following week when i travelled
CLT- LGW 140! yes 140 y seats avail, i went up to the counter to ask a diff agent for a seat but she dissapeared and this vision of incompetance strolled towards me and when i sheepishly asked for the seat assignment she told me i was on the PRIORITY list ( No #### Sherlock), met another agent and of course no problem...

I hate when staff are rude to staff!! We are like a family( more the simpsons than the brady bunch)

y a tciket at the last minute. the same thing happens to me quite often. There will be 10 seats or some high number and I will be the only non-rev listed, sometimes with my kids, and I've been told that 'you're on the stand-by list'. One time there was like 30 open seats or something like that, hardly anyone on the flight that is getting ready to board, and i was told that they had not boarded stand-by's yet. Yikes! It gets me when employees treat other employees like that. 140 open seats...hahhahaha

 

[Boeing Boeing GONE]

Yeah it really iritated me.. But hey she is only 1, Everybody else i have met in CLT are excellent and PHL has some great agents too..

 

[2clippedwings]

PSA is my least favorite carrier. I don't even want to begin talking about them. But, when i non-rev, i won't fly on a PSA flight due to their ENORMOUS MAINTENANCE delays and cancellations.

:huh: We'll miss you................

 

[Boeing Boeing GONE]

Good posting, its a mystery that some ppl are this way..

 

[tadjr]

I found in station that some of the people who do this are the non travelers. They dont nonrev and are either po'd they cant travel or just dont want to so they have no clue what its like to be out there.
We used to have some people who waited to give out nonrev seats (and revenue standbys) until the last 10 minutes and they were the ones who were always taking delays because inevitably, something would happen that would require their attention in the last 10 minutes and they would get behind in their work causing the nonrevs to be hustled on after a long lull in boarding when everyone could have already been on and ready to go. I just have to shake my head at them and ask why? Some people you could help out by clearing the standbys ahead of time and others are "in control of the flight" and dont want you touching the list. I'm glad to say that they are few and far between at this point in time.
I have and continue to ask nonrevs to hold off boarding when the flight is close to full (but has enough seats to get them on) if all that is left on the maps are middle seats. I tell them they will be on and can have a middle now or if they want to wait, I'll see what goes back on the map, up to them. Otherwise, get them out of there.
I think its a power thing. Same has happened to me in PHL waiting for Envoy. I know it has 25 seats open and have looked at the list to see only a couple rev upgrades and no nonrevs ahead of me only to be told we arent doing Envoy yet (with just over an hour to go). I went and sat down and 5 mins later the same agent called me back up to get me a seat. How moronic? Oh well, enjoy doing extra work.

 

[Furloughedagain]

Heard a rumor today (and the source was another furloughee, so it may be baseless) that after Jan 06' the existing furloughees would have their travel benefits terminated.

The second part of the rumor was that, as a part of the merged contract, a pilot may only stay on furlough for 3 years after which they would lose their recall rights.

Any insight from those of you who are still on the property?

As I mentioned, this was my first time non-revving in quite a while. Generally speaking my wife and I buy tickets when we need to travel so I don't think we'd be too heartbroken if we lost travel.

The recall rights would be nice though. Presently I do not intend to return, but it is ALWAYS nice to have a "plan B" in ones back-pocket in the event that things change.

Regards

 

[Boeing Boeing GONE]

I found in station that some of the people who do this are the non travelers. They dont nonrev and are either po'd they cant travel or just dont want to so they have no clue what its like to be out there.
We used to have some people who waited to give out nonrev seats (and revenue standbys) until the last 10 minutes and they were the ones who were always taking delays because inevitably, something would happen that would require their attention in the last 10 minutes and they would get behind in their work causing the nonrevs to be hustled on after a long lull in boarding when everyone could have already been on and ready to go. I just have to shake my head at them and ask why? Some people you could help out by clearing the standbys ahead of time and others are "in control of the flight" and dont want you touching the list. I'm glad to say that they are few and far between at this point in time.
I have and continue to ask nonrevs to hold off boarding
when the flight is close to full (but has enough seats to get them on) if all that is left on the maps are middle seats. I tell them they will be on and can have a middle now or if they want to wait, I'll see what goes back on the map, up to them. Otherwise, get them out of there.
I think its a power thing. Same has happened to me in PHL waiting for Envoy. I know it has 25 seats open and have looked at the list to see only a couple rev upgrades and no nonrevs ahead of me only to be told we arent doing Envoy yet (with just over an hour to go). I went and sat down and 5 mins later the same agent called me back up to get me a seat. How moronic? Oh well, enjoy doing extra work.

I'm sure this agent in CLT was probably gutted i got on, prob gets her kicks telling ppl you cant get on.
I agree these ppl do not travel for various reasons
and some have a chip on there shoulder.

As for evrybody else in U.S, its a dream travelling thru
the system and hope to welcome you soon to our station.